Association of angiotensin-converting enzyme and glutathione S-transferase gene polymorphisms with body mass index among hypertensive North Indians

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the association of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene polymorphisms with body mass index (BMI) in hypertensive North Indians. Methods: This case-control study was carried out between May 2013 and November 2014 at the Era’s Lucknow Medical College amp; Hospital,Lucknow,India,and included 378 subjects divided into three groups. One group constituted 253 hypertensive individuals (sustained diastolic blood pressure of gt;90 mmHg and systolic blood pressure of gt;140 mmHg) who were subcategorised according to normal ( lt;25 kg/m2) or high (≥25 kg/m2) BMI. The third group consisted of 125 age-,gender- and ethnically-matched normotensive controls with a normal BMI. Gene polymorphisms were evaluated by polymerase chain reaction. The genotypic and allelic frequency distribution among both groups were analysed. Results: A significant difference was found between GST theta 1-null and GST mu 1-positive genotype frequencies among the hypertensive overweight/obese individuals and controls (P = 0.014 and 0.033,respectively). However,no difference was observed in the frequency of ACE polymorphisms. ACE insertion/insertion genotype (P = 0.006),insertion and deletion alleles (P = 0.007 each) and GST theta 1-null and GST theta 1-positive genotypes (P = 0.006 each) were found to differ significantly between hypertensive cases and controls,regardless of BMI. Conclusion: ACE and GST gene polymorphisms were not associated with BMI but were significantly associated with hypertension among the studied group of North Indians.